


When You Play the Game of Thrones, You Win or you Die. There is No Middle Ground

by I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own



Series: Suilad Aran Thranduil [43]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 06:21:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5732632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own/pseuds/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe this is what they mean when they say that war is not child’s play.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When You Play the Game of Thrones, You Win or you Die. There is No Middle Ground

**Author's Note:**

> Title is obviously from Game of Thrones. 
> 
> Unpopular opinion: Legolas in Hobbit seems to show off more than he really, really needs to. And he doesn't seem to understand chain of command or duty. And he certainly doesn't seem to understand war or his place in it. But Legolas in LotR does all sorts of fancy shit, but it feels right there. It feels like the most expedient way to achieve something. He understands chain of command and he understands duty. And he understands war and his place in it. So either he got himself a wake up call with the Battle of Five Armies, or he exiled himself to Rivendell and got his awakening there. But something happened between Hobbit and LotR that made Legolas grow up.

It had always been more like a game for him, had always been fun and exciting and exhilarating, and from the time he first killed, he’d done everything to prove himself, because it made him feel good when people looked at him with awe and pride in their eyes. It was fun. It was exciting. And being able to call the shots, being able to make his own decisions, he craved that freedom. It had always been a game.

But this?

This isn’t a game.

And maybe this is what his father and the older warriors mean when they say that war isn’t a game. Maybe this is what they mean when they say that war should not make you feel good. Maybe this is what they mean when they talk about an aching in their chest, like they’re carrying the dead with them everywhere they go. Maybe this is what they mean when they say that war is not child’s play.

This isn’t fun.

Some of these faces staring back at him, they’re younger than he is. Younger than Tauriel is. Some of these faces staring back at him are so young not even a full century has passed since their birth. None of these faces will ever look at him in the Halls of their home again. None of these faces will smile or laugh or cry.

This isn’t exciting.

He’s seen death before, so many times, but nothing ever like this. Nothing on this scale. When they fight the spiders or the wargs or the orcs in the forest, there are always so many more losses on their enemy’s side than their own. It is not the same now.

This isn’t exhilarating.

His father talks of his mother’s gems in the mountain. But his father never would have risked _this_ over gems. He understands that now. Some part of him has always understood, some part seeing but not truly processing the lingering fear and dread in his father’s eyes. But he understands it now. There are no riches on the planet that can justify _this._ There are valuable, expensive treasures all over the world, but nothing worth this. Life is precious. Life is _price_ less. Nothing can ever justify this mass loss of life.

This isn’t a game.

There are so many emotions in his father’s eyes when they finally see each other that he questions how he ever believed his father to be cold. Back when this was a game, all he wanted was his father to look at him with pride and love and joy. And he had seen all of that in his father’s eyes, but he’d seen other things there, too, things he’d ignored, but he can’t ignore them now. Pride, fear, shock, joy, relief, confusion, love, concern, regret, anger, grief, disbelief, _pain_.

This isn’t a game.

It was never a game.

He needs to get out.

He needs to walk away.

Before he can’t ever walk away at all.

This isn’t a game.


End file.
